Dallas Mavericks Blog

Prepare to be amazed by No. 1 pick Wall; ex-Mav Howard still recovering

Talked to Wizards coach Flip Saunders before they went through their morning walk-through and he’s excited about the prospects of top draftee John Wall, who will play against the Mavericks tonight at American Airlines Center.

“The most amazing thing about him is his leadership ability,” Saunders said. “He holds guys accountable.

“And tonight, I know one thing: he’s going to do three or four spectacular things, whether it’s a block, dunk, rebound, getting to the basket, picking somebody’s pocket, that’s just the things he does.”

Saunders said Wall has accepted the role of new franchise beacon and that his time at Kentucky helped that process. Wall will start tonight, probably with Kirk Hinrich in the Wizards’ backcourt. Gilbert Arenas is healthy, but Saunders was mum on whether Arenas would join Wall in the backcourt or not. Hinrich, apparently, has had a superb training camp.

Meanwhile, Josh Howard has traveled with the Wizards to Dallas, but is still some time away from being able to return from ACL surgery he had late last season.

“He’s doing some skeleton offense with us,” Saunders said. “He’s jumping and running with us. We’ll see where he is in two or three weeks. We’re not going to push him, but he’s a lot more advanced than we thought. We’re going to make sure he’s back 100 percent. Sometimes, when you come back too quick, you hurt something else because another part of your body is compensating.”